Catfur wrote:Those pics don't look like 20 year old tea to me. Guess your home storage is ultra dry.

I found the 1992 XG tuocha being sold by Canton Tea Co. in the UK for BP 100. The photo of the tuo on their website seems to indicate theirs has gone through a wetter storage than mine. So much so that Jakub mentioned in his blog that it smelled and tasted like a shupu. Mine however was fragrantly plummy and a bit smokey -- very much a sheng pu.

I've been drinking young sheng for the past 3 days or so. When I'm sick with the common cold, shu and aged puerh seem to make my sore throat and congestion worse (like drinking milk or eating a bananna) whereas harsh young sheng immensely alleviates symptoms.

trent wrote:I've been drinking young sheng for the past 3 days or so. When I'm sick with the common cold, shu and aged puerh seem to make my sore throat and congestion worse (like drinking milk or eating a bananna) whereas harsh young sheng immensely alleviates symptoms.

Harsh young sheng? Is it sheng that you don't enjoy when you don't have a cold? Is is the harshness or the strength?

I usually don't drink much tea when i have a bad cold. Mainly because i get annoyed that one (or more) of my senses is so dulled. When my throat is scratchy, i go straight for Laoman'e, because it coats so heavily.

This 2005 6FTM Year of the Roosterbing was one of my earliest acquisitions from Yunnan Sourcing LLC. I purchased it back in 2006. As I remember, this was a bitter and astringent tea back then when I first tasted it. It's been forgotten for about 6 years now. How does it fare?

Well, it's not as bitter or astringent as I recall, but I am quite dissapointed by its lack of maturity or progress for a 7 years-old tea. Maybe my storage at home is way too dry after all for pu'er. It's still quite astringent and it gives an unsettling feeling to my stomach the way a lot of very young sheng pu'er teas do. The caffeine hit was quite strong, too. As far as chaqi goes, I couldn't feel much.

Maybe in another 7 years this rooster will fly high...high...highly doubt it.

This is a great example F2, since you have a good experience of this 7 years dry storage. Perhaps a wake up call for all new collectors whom been doing "Dry" storage for 1 or 2 years and hoping for a miracle.

TIM wrote:This is a great example F2, since you have a good experience of this 7 years dry storage. Perhaps a wake up call for all new collectors whom been doing "Dry" storage for 1 or 2 years and hoping for a miracle.

Right! Look how greenish the wet leaves still are after all these years. Everyone should learn from my 7-years mistake

TIM wrote:This is a great example F2, since you have a good experience of this 7 years dry storage. Perhaps a wake up call for all new collectors whom been doing "Dry" storage for 1 or 2 years and hoping for a miracle.

Right! Look how greenish the wet leaves still are after all these years. Everyone should learn from my 7-years mistake

One thing I know when looking at your pics is that they're properly white balanced

TIM wrote:This is a great example F2, since you have a good experience of this 7 years dry storage. Perhaps a wake up call for all new collectors whom been doing "Dry" storage for 1 or 2 years and hoping for a miracle.

Right! Look how greenish the wet leaves still are after all these years. Everyone should learn from my 7-years mistake

One thing I know when looking at your pics is that they're properly white balanced

I hope at least some people will find the photos useful as visual references. Colors do speak volume about the tea, I assume?